Jeff Browne’s behind-the-scenes campaign to seize control at Collingwood gathers momentum

Collingwood great Tony Shaw says if Jeff Browne is serious about challenging for Eddie McGuire’s former position, he needs to “put up or shut up”.

Collingwood legend Tony Shaw says Jeff Browne has to put up or shut up if he wants to become the Magpies new president.

While the Collingwood board appointed Mark Korda as the man to replace Eddie McGuire, following him and Peter Murphy sharing a co-president role, it has been heavily speculated that Browne is waiting in the wings to seize control of the club.

Shaw, the 1990 premiership captain for the Pies and former coach, said on 3AW that if Browne, the former Channel 9 boss and long-time AFL legal adviser, wanted to take control of Collingwood he needed to come out and “put his hand up”.

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“Jeff Browne has to come out really quickly ... he has to come out and say ‘I want the job of president’ or ‘I want to be on the board of the footy club’,” Shaw said.

“That’s what he has to do.

“Jeff has to come out now and say ‘Mark Korda, we have to get together very quickly to get this board in place by the end of the season.”

Shaw said this was to ensure the club had a clear direction to follow, with list manager Ned Guy to finish in his role after the mid-season draft.

Eddie McGuire and Tony Shaw in 2009.

“Don’t worry about Nathan Buckley, both sides agree we leave that to go to the end but the reason being you have a draft period,” he said.

“You have to get a recruiting man, which Wrighty (Graham Wright) will look after.

“You need direction before the end of the season.”

Shaw said the constant speculation was “destabilising” the Pies.

Murmurs over Korda’s ability to step permanently into McGuire’s giant shoes began before a ball was bounced in season 2021.

Delivering the presidential pre-game address in the MCG Olympic Room prior to the Round 1 Collingwood-Western Bulldogs clash, Korda mistakenly referred to fellow club director Paul Licuria as a member of the Magpies’ 2010 premiership team.

After a dinner guest pointed out his error, Korda corrected himself, referencing Licuria’s place in the 2003 Grand Final side, which lost to Brisbane.

It was a harmless gaffe, but one not lost on those wondering what life ‘post-McGuire’ at Collingwood would look like.

At Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon it will be Ben Buckley, president of winless North Melbourne, delivering the pre-match sermon but it’s Korda’s Magpies who are staring down the barrel of a full-blown football crisis.

Compounding the countdown to the bottom-of-the-table clash was Thursday’s sudden exit of Collingwood list manager Ned Guy – the latest unwanted headline in a disastrous seven-month stretch for Australia’s most famous sporting club.

McGuire and Jeff Browne.

The pressure is building on Korda and waiting patiently in the wings is would-be Collingwood president Jeff Browne, the former Channel 9 boss and long-time AFL legal adviser, whose behind-the-scenes campaign to seize control of the club continues to gather momentum.

The Browne camp have been busy assembling a rival ticket to the Korda board, and there are three options being considered.

The first option would involve a formal meeting between the two parties, during which Browne’s team would seek a peaceful transfer of power, potentially involving the retention of two or three directors.

Option two would see the Browne forces wait until next year’s annual general meeting before forcing a spill of the board, but the concern with that strategy is the lengthy delay and amount of damage that might be done in the meantime.

The third, and most likely option, is the calling of an extraordinary general meeting where Magpies fans would be given the chance to go to the polls and vote on the group they believe should take charge at the Holden Centre.

The hope among Browne’s supporters is that some Collingwood board members will see the writing on the wall and pressure Korda to let go before the stand-off becomes bloody.

Looming large over it all is the future of coach Nathan Buckley.

The casualty list at Collingwood is piling up. Football boss Geoff Walsh walked away late last year, McGuire was forced out in February and Guy called time this week.

Guy had been contemplating walking away from Collingwood for months. The former player manager had known for years that the club’s salary cap problems were a ticking time bomb, but took one for the team anyway in a trainwreck Fox Footy interview last November where he claimed the trading of Adam Treloar and Jaidyn Stephenson was based on other factors.

Guy can rightfully argue that the disastrous decision to bring back Dayne Beams in exchange for two first-round draft picks was driven by those higher up the food chain.

Collingwood president Mark Korda.

Suddenly, new football boss Graham Wright is the central figure who will take over Guy’s duties on an interim basis and lead the decision making on Buckley’s future.

Collingwood has said it will wait until the back-end of the season to make a call on Buckley and a new administration would also need time to assess the coach.

As for Korda, he was a long-time member of the McGuire board the influential Galbally family last year said had lost its way to become “the worst administration in the history of the Collingwood Football Club”.

Korda had to fight to beat director Peter Murphy to the presidency but faces a far more formidable opponent in Browne, a well-connected Collingwood man untainted by the series of missteps and the ‘Do Better’ racism report that have derailed the club.

Next up are the easybeat Kangaroos, and rarely has the fate of so many rested on the outcome of a Saturday afternoon.